Cool and Calm
by The Cosmic Penguin
Summary: -Fourshot, if there IS such a thing- When Kirby gets frustrated over something trivial, he makes an irrational decision that both splits and brings the group back together. Takes place in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, but you don't have to have played it to get it. Rating is to be safe.
1. The Accident

A/N: About two days ago I was playing through level 4-3 in Kirby's Return to Dreamland and died twice in this room because of the puzzle's timing (you know, the one where you stand under the iron platform, jump, throw your Cutter Boomerang, and then escape in 1.5 seconds before you get crushed, meaning INSTANT KILL). As I was thinking about the proper timing and such, this story popped into my head. You don't have to have played the game to get this, but it would help you visualize the scenario better.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kirby franchise or any other characters I like to write about...

* * *

"It's cold," Dedede whined as the foursome trotted through the icy underground cavern. Bandana Dee nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything.

"Why can't we ask some of the locals for some soup or something _warm_?" Dedede asked four seconds later.

"Because," Kirby stated. "We're heroes, not beggars. I, unlike you, actually have some dignity."

"You, unlike me, also have a fire power-up. What do you say to that?"

"That you, unlike me, are wearing a robe with a jumpsuit on underneath it."

"Well, you, un—"

"Could you please cut it out?!" Bandana Dee shouted in frustration. "We're looking for Energy Spheres and Ship Parts, not a free meal! Have you two no dignity? Does it really take an interest in something technical to gain sanity?!"

Both Dedede and Kirby looked away in embarrassment, but the puffball could hear his rival snickering, which instilled an unlikely anger in him. Bandana Dee, like Meta Knight, rarely raised his voice or snapped at people, especially his friends. His patience gauge was a bit more lenient than Meta Knight's, but this was simply because he had worked for both Dedede and Meta Knight, so he was a bit more reluctant to scold them. He rarely spoke badly of Kirby, simply because the puffball had such a happy-go-lucky demeanor that you couldn't really stay mad at him for long (and also because he was secretly glad that the puff had foiled Dedede's schemes). Bandana Dee rolled his eyes, oblivious to Kirby's anger, and turned to Meta Knight to see his reaction. The blue knight normally would've rolled his eyes or added some smart reply, but ever since they'd entered the snowy world, he'd been a bit…distracted. He was still as alert as he'd always been, if not more, but he seemed more interested in the surroundings and snow than the mission. Dedede and Bandana Dee had thought this was a bit strange (and had both been caught staring at him quite frequently), but Kirby had been quite accepting of it despite the abnormality it presented. Maybe he knew what was causing it, maybe he didn't. Either way, he wasn't telling. Especially since he was frustrated right now.

The halfway-organized quartet kept trekking through the cave in a deathly silence with Kirby at the lead and the others following behind. None of them complained about Kirby getting the most fighting time, simply because there weren't many enemies around.

They continued this way for quite a while until they reached a point where the only way to cross to the other side was either over a swirling, freezing mass of water that had run into a crater-filled hole or through the waterfalls that poured into this hole. Now, any normal person would have just swam along the edge of the miniature lake, but since Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede could float and Bandana Dee had an anti-gravity device he had borrowed from Meta Knight, they jumped right into the waterfalls, disregarding the fact that most people would think they were insane. Of course, they knew they were, but there were no locals around, so it didn't matter. The going was pretty good, but Kirby was having a bit of trouble with the swimming which was doing more than irritating him a little. After a few minutes of traversing the waterfalls, he decided to voice his complaints.

"Guys, I'm having some trouble here! Hello! I don't have any arms!"

"Well Bandana Dee has the same paws as you and he's not complaining…" Meta Knight stated in what he hoped was an emotionless tone of voice, trying not to sound like he was on either side but failing. Kirby didn't appear to take any offense to this at first sight, but his eyes narrowed and his already-built-up anger shifted to a new target. Bandana Dee noticed this, and felt some sympathy for the blue knight. How had Kirby gotten this worked up? Meta Knight had just tried to settle the argument. It wasn't anything _new_ for him…

The waterfalls thinned out to an open area where a mostly-intact ice platform was. The band of adventurers jumped onto it, glad for a rest. They all sat down and propped their swim goggles on top of their heads (or, in the case of Kirby and Meta Knight, ate them while the other two weren't looking) for a nice break, even though their bottoms would probably be frozen by the time they got up. Kirby gave Meta Knight a death glare out of the corner of his eye, but the blue puff noticed and teleported a few yards away, sitting near the edge of the iceberg by himself. Dedede and Bandana Dee gave him a sympathetic glance, but didn't wish to anger Kirby. The king and commoner noticed, however, that Kirby stalked over to Meta Knight and started arguing with him in their native language. The two sounded angry at each other, but again, neither of the other two wanted to tick the two heroes off. They risked a glance over their shoulder when they heard a splash, though, but quickly turned back as they saw Kirby walking back towards them, trying to put on a neutral face. They hadn't seen Meta Knight on the edge again; the two simply assumed that he had fallen in. But the more they thought about it, and the more Kirby sat there staring into the water in front of him, the more they believed that that may not have been the case, especially when they heard Meta Knight surface quietly and noticed that he looked as if he had been pulled through one of the whirlpools. The quartet simply sat there, taking breather before moving on.

…At least, they _would_ have if Kirby hadn't noticed an iron platform hanging by a thick rope up above them. Kirby's adventuring senses kicked in. "I'll bet there's something up there."

"I'd bet so, too," Dedede muttered. "Why else would there be a suspicious platform hanging up there for no reason?"

Kirby noticed a Sir Kibble's blade lying to the side and popped it in his mouth. The screen flashed to a starscape for a split second as Kirby gained a yellow hat with a blade on top. He then turned to the platform, and sunk into thought. "I can't get it from the waterfalls; my power won't work there…" He tiptoed around the edge of the –extremely- icy platform, looking to see how far it needed to be. Ironically enough, his original position in the center of the platform was the only one that would work. Kirby glared up at it.

"Hmph, well if it wants me to stand underneath it and do it, fine! Have it your way!"

The others stepped back as got into position to throw his boomerang. None of them noticed what would happen when the rope released. None of them saw anything wrong with the fact that Kirby usually waited for the platform to fall before proceeding. Only Meta Knight, true to his vigilant nature, saw the flaw in this plan.

But he saw it too late.

Kirby had already thrown his boomerang.

Without even saying a word, the blue knight threw himself at Kirby as the platform started to fall. Kirby was about to make a smart retort, but his anger quickly turned to terror as he saw the shadow descending on them. Although Meta Knight had tried to put as much force as possible into his blow, most of the force had worn off by the time he reached Kirby. Both of them were about two feet under the nearest edge. Dedede and Bandana Dee gasped in horror at the scene unfolding. Seconds felt like minutes, but even with time in an apparent standstill, the two puffballs could not make it out before the platform crashed into the ground with a loud clang.

"NO!" Bandana Dee immediately dashed over to the place where he had last seen his friends, overwhelming sadness and worry washing over him. The Dee tried to lift the corner of the platform, struggling, losing his grip, grabbing it again, repeating, but he didn't have the strength to do anything to it. "Kirby! Meta Knight! Please get up!" He continued pushing at it desperately, despite the tears streaming down his face.

At this point, King Dedede walked over as quietly as he could to the young Dee and placed his hand on his head. "Listen," he stated in a quiet, almost choked voice that was uncharacteristic of him. "I don't know if we can do anything, kid. I—"

"We have to try! Don't you care about them?!" He promptly started sobbing and throwing himself against the platform, which did not even budge from its position. Dedede sighed and lowered his head. Bracing himself, he took out his large hammer and put it out on the ground next to the platform. Bandana Dee gave him a look of confusion.

With that, Dedede grabbed the corner of the platform and, much to his surprise, actually managed to shift the iron platform towards him some. However, this was not what he wanted when there were creatures trapped underneath; the corner would simply drag across their bodies if he pulled it toward him. The king slowly shifted his hands closer and closer to the center of the platform, straining against its weight. Bandana Dee watched him with awe. When he felt he'd reached the center, he turned to Bandana Dee. "Get ready. Shove it under there quick."

Bandana Dee blinked before looking at the king's hammer on the ground. He grabbed it and nodded. Dedede nodded back and then, with all the strength he possessed, heaved the platform up to his shoulder level. Bandana Dee gasped upon seeing the bodies of his two friends, but a shout from Dedede snapped him back into reality long enough for him to shove the hammer underneath. King Dedede tried to lower the platform as slowly as he could onto the hammer, hoping it would be strong enough to withstand the weight. For the moment, it was, and Dedede finally fell onto his bottom, gasping for breath as he lay stomach down on the floor for a few seconds. When he was done, he turned back to Bandana Dee, who was staring at the puffballs uncertainly.

The two seemed flattened, almost, which wasn't surprising considering their anatomy. Their weapons, however, had been crushed; Kirby's cutter blade had just barely missed killing him and had instead inflicted a long scrape across his right side. He was somehow still powered-up, despite having taken a critical—_not_ _fatal_, the king hoped—hit. Meta Knight, on the other hand, was in bad condition. His mask and shoulder guards had shattered under pressure, leaving multiple lacerations on his body where the pieces had been pushed into him. His wings seemed to be just as battered, with a few pieces of metal piercing them, as well. The splintered ice had dug into both of their bodies in various places, with the surrounding ice absorbing a red tint from the quickly-freezing liquid. Neither puffball showed any signs of life.

Bandana Dee started quaking again, and Dedede wiped a few tears from his own eyes. "Kid."

The Dee looked up at him, tears already running down his face, too. He gave no response except for a devastated stare.

"Let's pull them out, kid. Just to see what we can do for them." The king whispered. "Don't give up hope yet. We can cry afterwards. We don't know how long my hammer will hold up."

With that, the king and servant slowly moved the two puffballs. Since they had no place to lay them, Dedede took off his decorative belt and spread it evenly on the ground (considering that, if they had to carry the two, they wouldn't want something big and bulky like his robe). Extracting them from under the platform was a delicate task, but it was possible, and a few minutes later, the two puffballs had been laid on the king's best belt. When that task had been done, Dedede used the last of strength to yank his hammer out from underneath the platform, covering the scene of the unfortunate accident until the ice ever melted. As he put the hammer back in his robe, he wondered what they were going to do next. They couldn't do anything until they were out of this cavern, which luckily appeared to be ending soon. But until then…

Dedede sighed. He supposed he'd have to carry the two. "Bandana Dee, guard the way. I'll take these two—slowly and carefully, I know." He sighed again. "This hero business is tougher than I thought, having to do things like this…"

"Shouldn't we…y'know…" The Dee gestured towards their bodies, which were still covered with metal and ice. Dedede shook his head. "Better to leave them like that until we find someone who can help them. Come on, let's go. Quickly."

* * *

What? I thought it was a good place to split it. Flames will be used to cook my non-existent s'mores. Critiques, on the other hand are quite welcome.

...Oh, yeah, I know only the people who have no family or friends to celebrate with will probably read this on the exact day it's relevant, but happy 4th of July anyway. Don't feel bad; you're not the only one stuck at home doing nothing. I am too, which is why I'll write the rest of this later on today. :D


	2. The Cottage

A/N: If it seems like Meta Knight and Kirby aren't showing up much, you haven't seen the last two chapters. -sweatdrop-

**Disclaimer**: Don't own anything!

By the way, shoutouts to Destiny Willowleaf and the two guest reviewers. Destiny and Guest1 reviewed on the 4th of July, and the other guest pointed out an alternate way to do the puzzle that I didn't notice because I was too stubborn. -sweatdrop-

PS: I too think Dedede has a caring side. He's shown it in both the anime and the games, kinda. :)

* * *

Everything was black.

He didn't know whether his eyes were opened or closed, but he didn't want to try in case he found out that his eyes were already open and that he had gone blind or something. He was in so much pain…what had happened? He remembered snow and ice, and then the piercing white and blue landscape was rapidly shadowed, fading into thick blackness. He opened his mouth to cry out, but found that no words would leave his mouth. He struggled to move, but couldn't. The frozenness of the cavern must be getting to him. Either way, he'd enjoy the heat—

Wait. Heat? That was what he felt, but how it was so warm in an icy cavern was beyond him. The waterfalls seemed strangely quiet; perhaps because Dedede had covered him with his robe or something. He could hear voices murmuring in the background. He heard Dedede and Bandana Dee…he didn't hear Meta Knight, but he was probably just nodding in agreement. But then he noticed…a female's voice? It wasn't likely that they had stopped to talk with the locals in the middle of a lake; what—

"Kaabii?"

The puff felt a furry hand on his side that felt as if it belonged to Bandana Dee. He tried to make some sort of sound to let him know that he acknowledged his presence, but could not make his voice work properly. Instead, he briefly raised his paw on the side that Bandana Dee was and tried to kick his foot feebly. The paw rubbed his head for a few seconds in a way that Kirby would normally have found absolutely delightful, but was in too much pain now to care. All he wanted to do was sleep…

* * *

"So they're gonna be okay? Are you positive?"

Ribbon Dee giggled. "With a little love, yes, they'll recover."

After Dedede and Bandana Dee had made it out of the cave, they had started searching out someone who could help them. They had passed a few places that looked questionable before they came to a little cottage in the middle of a small, snowy field that was in a dip that shielded it from the winds. At first, the owner had been a bit hesitant to let them in, not knowing who they were exactly, but after seeing the puffballs in their condition (and some pleading from Bandana Dee), she had let them in and agreed that they could stay as long as they needed. To make the deal even better, she had made contact with Kirby's yellow counterpart at a baking fair and was able to call her up to ask any questions she needed. Yellow had offered to come down, but Ribbon Dee had politely refused; she knew that Yellow had been on a date with Green Kirby at about that time and didn't wish to interrupt. As much as they hated to admit it ('they' being Dedede, really), Ribbon Dee had far exceeded their medical expertise, and she was a pretty good cook while she was at it. Plus, her pink and brown ribbons were a nice change from the usual, plain Waddle Dees.

Bandana Dee sighed as he stared at his two friends next to the fire. Dedede had already gone to sleep in the open corner next to the fire; even he was willing to respect the rights of the two injured puffballs to sleep directly in front of it. There had been no beds for someone his size, though, so Bandana Dee supposed that it was okay to let him have at least a few fireside rights as long as he wasn't bothering the puffballs. A rug with a large quilt and some towels stitched together on impromptu notice was a far cry from his castle, but he'd been willing to put up with it anyway, stating that he might as well 'enjoy his moments of heroic sacrifice'. Once he had cleaned himself (and his belt and hammer) up, he'd done nothing more but gone to sleep. Ribbon Dee was cooking a pot of soup for them, but it wasn't quite done yet so they'd agreed to let Dedede take a nap until it was ready. Until then, she and Bandana Dee had been sitting on a little blue and pink couch together playing checkers.

Ah, Ribbon Dee. Bandana Dee liked her; she was so nice and had such good cookies and cinnamon buns. Not to mention that she played board games like nobody else. Perhaps once they were finished with their current adventure, he could ask her out to have a little adventure of their own. It was such a pity that they'd had to meet in such unfortunate circumstances, but everybody was going to be okay, so he had tried to shake off some of his guilt of spending time with her. True, he was still a bit concerned, seeing how it had been a day and the puffballs had still not woken up, but Ribbon Dee had assured them that it was natural and that their bodies would heal faster while they were asleep.

Either way, this was one really good game of checkers. By the time they finished, the soup would be done. With that happy thought in mind, Bandana Dee turned back to the checkerboard. He wasn't going to lose _this_ game, for sure…

* * *

"Hey. Great King, wake up. The soup's ready."

Dedede moaned; he was still a little tired, but the soup smelled delicious…

"Great King!"

He felt the butt end of Bandana Dee's spear poking him in the side. "A'righ, A'right, I'm comin'…"

Sleeping on the floor had been a bit hard on him, but he had to admit, it had a 'rough' feel to it that made him feel good on the inside. Due to the lack of blankets (that is, blankets _his size_), he'd had to sleep with his robe on. He didn't think that he'd be warm enough even then, but Ribbon Dee had pointed out a corner next to the fireplace that he could squeeze into to sleep in. Dedede wasn't really a corner person, but he didn't want to complain to Ribbon Dee, so he'd put up with it. She cooked such good food that it didn't really matter. The king sat up and rubbed his eyes. When Kirby got up, he'd have to make sure that he didn't eat everything that she cooked. He glanced at the two puffballs in front of the fireplace. They hadn't moved much; Kirby seemed a bit more responsive to stimuli than Meta Knight, however. Perhaps if Kirby got up and moving again, Meta Knight would recover quicker—at least, that was what Dedede hoped. He respected Meta Knight, but he had a bit of a quirky personality that had the tendency to hinder progress when he was injured, mainly because he refused medical help until he was physically forced to accept it. Dedede found this irritating. When he was injured, he'd ask for help. Why flat-out refuse it?

Dedede walked over to sit on the floor next to the little couch. He was glad that he still had a foot or two between his head and the ceiling; he hadn't gone back into any of the other rooms or the kitchen, though, just the main room. Ribbon Dee handed him his bowl of soup and he gratefully accepted. He'd probably have to ask for a refill, but she'd made a pretty huge pot regardless. Bandana Dee had probably helped. Dedede snickered at that. He could see that the young Waddle Dee was clearly smitten with her, but despite his nature, he decided not to tease him about it…

…for the moment, that is. Once Kirby and Meta Knight had recovered, Bandana Dee would never hear the end of this.

King Dedede was about halfway finished with his soup when he noticed that Ribbon Dee was ladling some soup into another bowl. "Who's that for?"

"Them." She stated, gesturing toward Kirby and Meta Knight.

"Um…are you sure? Is it—"

"Safe? Yes. Yellow said to give them some food an hour after I finished talking to her, but I thought I'd give them a little more time to recover. I don't really want them moving around that much, so if they decide to run around all of a sudden…" she dropped her voice to a whisper. "_Don't eat any of the food I offer them_."

"_Why?"_ Dedede whispered back.

Ribbon Dee did not respond, but held up a small, blue-ish green container in front of Dedede's face. The penguin read the label.

_"__Grade A sleeping powder; caution, do not administer more than ¼ teaspoon_—it's that potent?"

"How do you think I've kept it so long?" She twirled the container around before putting it back in a little basket. "Don't touch that stuff, seriously. You have to open it a certain way or it'll blow in your face, so no pranks, boys. Sorry."

Dedede and Bandana Dee exchanged looks. "She's already one step ahead of us."

"No, probably farther."

"If she's one step ahead of us, how far ahead of Kirby and Meta Knight is she?"

"Oh please. If Kirby and Meta Knight are at the beginning of a level, she's probably already at the goal game."

"Well…"

* * *

_Snow. __Ice. __That was really all he saw. __It went on forever, no matter how far he kept walking. __He liked snow and ice; he knew Meta Knight loved snow and ice, but right now, he just wanted the stupid stuff to end. __But there was no end._

_Just then, the cavern started shaking. __The ceiling collapsed on itself, somehow leaving him unscathed. __When the noise had stopped, he stared up. __The landscape was dark, blackened, and full of fiery volcanos. __And above all that, there was a four-headed dragon, standing fearlessly on a rock. __Kirby cowered, hoping it wouldn't see him. __Its glowing green eyes seemed to stare past everything in its path, searching for something. __The pink puff frantically glanced around, looking for cover, but there was none to be found. __He turned back to where he had seen the dragon and locked eyes with. __He was unable to turn away, unable to move. __What did it want with him? __Why—_

The scene was cut off unexpectedly, jolted into blurriness by a starscape. He could feel that he'd swallowed something. Was he dreaming? Kirby struggled to wake up, to find out what was going on. He reached his paws in front of his face to rub his eyes, only to feel a jolting pain that made him pull them open anyway.

Everything was blurry at first, but it slowly solidified to where he could see a quaint interior of a building. There was a fire in front of him, and a Waddle Dee wearing a ribbon was giving him some soup. There was talking in the background; it sounded like Dedede and Bandana Dee were joking about something and the Waddle Dee in front of him cut in impromptu. Whenever she did, the other two would laugh harder. She then turned back to Kirby to see he was awake. She hushed the other two, and Kirby heard their footsteps coming over to him. Bandana Dee walked over behind the other Dee, and Dedede bent down to eye contact with him, looking comical as ever doing so. The king's face broke into a wide grin, and he spread his arms out to grab Kirby.

"Kirby! You're oka—"

A thwacking noise was heard as Bandana Dee swung the handle of his spear across Dedede's chest. The Waddle Dee shook his paw at the king, who moaned in response. "Oh, yeah, don't maul the puffballs. Haha! I rhyme!"

Kirby smiled despite himself, and tried to look Dedede's way even though he was lying on his stomach. It wasn't as painful as last time; besides, the scene of Dedede clutching his stomach was worth it. He snickered in spite of the pain. He was going to look around more, but a paw tapping his cheek made him focus back to the Waddle Dee with the ribbon. "Nya-nya. Dinner first."

Kirby stared at the bowl. "Can I sit up?"

"Sure!" She responded cheerfully. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, Kaabii. You and your friend managed to get yourselves into a fine scrape, but it seems you're just as feisty as ever, eh?"

"Yeah." He still didn't feel like talking much; there was a scratchy feeling on his inside that made him want to start coughing. Maybe he'd feel better after he ate—ate, he told himself, not inhaled. He'd have to act civilized in the presence of someone who'd taken him in. Kirby felt a bit guilty about having to stop, but he knew it was unavoidable. It wasn't like there were any doctors out in this wasteland. He swallowed some more of the soup, wishing his right paw didn't feel so weak. Maybe he could offer to eat with his left paw. He wasn't very good at it though; he wished he was ambidextrous like Meta Knight, but he just wasn't that good at it yet. Not enough practice, he supposed.

Speaking of which, where the heck was Meta Knight? He knew his friend didn't like accepting 'unnecessary' help, but wasn't like him to be quiet for _this_ long, especially in the presence of food as good as this. Kirby didn't have a good feeling about this. Meta Knight should've been with the others. Why—

"Do you want some more?"

Kirby blinked in surprise, snapped out of his train of thought. "Uh, sure, thank you. Can I try holding the spoon this time please?"

"You're welcome, and of course. What kind of food? I have bread, cookies, some cherries…" Kirby could've drooled; it sounded _so good_…

"Uh, I think he wants one of everything. Careful there; you're feeding a black hole, y'know." Dedede commented, still holding his bruised stomach when he started laughing at his joke (which Kirby, again, could not help but grin at). Luckily, she didn't seem to mind that she was 'feeding a black hole', and instead dashed back to the kitchen. Dedede walked over and leaned against the wall by the fireplace, while Bandana Dee simply sat down on the edge. Both stared at Kirby, who was leaned back against some pillows. The puff blinked back at them. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but which one should he ask first?

"Where are we?"

"Well," Bandana Dee started, "We are in the cottage of the lovely Ribbon Dee, who agreed to let us stay here until you two are fully recovered. It's a serious stroke of luck we found her out in the middle of nowhere. Must've been destiny."

Dedede gave him a sly look at hearing his statement, especially the last one, but he didn't say anything. Kirby would have to ask him about that later.

"What happened to me? Why did we—" he stopped to cough. "Have to stop?"

The king and the Dee exchanged wary glances. "You mean you don't remember?"

Kirby shook his head (body), but stopped when he shifted a little too much. "N-no. Was it something terrible?"

At this point, Ribbon Dee walked over to him with the food, and Kirby caught the other two exchanging relieved glances with her. This struck him as suspicious. Why didn't they want to tell him? He wasn't going to rest until he found out. The conversation was mostly centered around the food. Kirby played along, not wanting them to think he was prying. They'd have to go to bed sometime, and when they did, he could ask one of them alone. No room for avoidance. Maybe Meta Knight would know. Kirby narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. Where _was_ Meta Knight? He blinked suddenly as he remembered a line that they had said before he was fully awake.

_"…__You and your friend managed to get yourselves into a fine scrape…"_

It couldn't be that…Meta Knight had gotten hurt as well? How had they managed to drag him in here without him protesting? Kirby flinched; if he had gotten bashed as much as he apparently had, it had to have hurt. Knowing Meta Knight, though, he was probably already sneaking around somewhere trying to do some work. Or he'd gotten caught and then the others had tied him up. Those were really the only two logical explanations. With that answer solidified in his mind, he turned back to the feast in front of him.

He had just about eaten his fill about fifteen minutes later. The pink puffball wiped around his mouth as best as he could with his paw before sticking it into his mouth and sucking all the food off. The sensation of it was strangely enjoyable, and if he was in a particularly good mood on a particularly rare occasion, he might let someone else stick their hand in his mouth and do that (covered in food, of course). He pulled his paw out of his mouth and noted with satisfaction that it was perfectly clean. His powers must be working properly. He might even feel good enough to stand up. Kirby attempted this, but was caught by his friends before he could try it and pushed back into bed. The pink puff sighed. "Guys, I can stand myself, you know. I'm not _that_ weak."

"What, did you somehow gain Meta Knight's mentality overnight? Give yourself a break. Sit down and listen to us joke around or something."

"Okay, okay, fine." Kirby rested back against his pillows. "Speaking of which, where'd Meta Knight take off to? Is he already out looking for something to do to 'redeem himself'?"

King Dedede looked at Bandana Dee, who casually replied to him. "Nah, he's just tired out. Or he's faking it and he just wants to be alone. Who knows?"

"Oh, okay." Kirby looked a bit disappointed; he enjoyed talking to Meta Knight and it didn't look he would be doing much more than talking tonight. _Oh well, there's always later..._

* * *

For those of you who have played 'Return to Dream Land': kudos to you if you made sense of Kirby's dream scene; even I don't know what I was (or was NOT) thinking when I wrote it. The dragon I described was Landia (sadly, she has no character filter), but seriously, where else in the Kirby-verse would you find a four-headed dragon?

And yes, Bandana Dee now gets a love interest. Seriously, though, the little guy is awesome, so he deserves it. Her name was going to be Cinnamon Dee, but 'Ribbon' matches better in the line of headgear. (No Kirby 64 references intended, by the way) :)

Thanks for your support so far!


	3. The Cookies

A/N: The two Waddle Dees seem to be sucking all my attention up :). Meta Knight will probably be a bit OOC in this chapter, but considering that his wings have the only bones in his body, it could have been much more traumatic for him than this (and, now that I think about it, probably should have...). By the way, who can guess what things caused me to imply that MK is ice-elemental?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby: Air Ride, Kirby Super Star/Ultra, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Kirby of the Stars, Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby...

Oh! And before I forget! Shoutouts to MyImagination12, Destiny Willowleaf, another guest, and kitzykat, and everyone else who's reading the story! It looks like there are even more ways to get the Energy Sphere that I'm not aware of...stupid stubbornness!

* * *

Ribbon Dee hated to move Meta Knight around too much, but it was something that had to be done. Bandana Dee had told her that Kirby would feel terrible if he figured out what had happened, and she couldn't blame him. Making a mistake and then letting your friend get hurt because of it wasn't something that perked a person's self-confidence. Yellow had told her that emotions strongly influenced their species, so Ribbon Dee was going to make sure that Kirby was happy until he absolutely had to know what had happened. Hopefully by then, he and Meta Knight would be healed up so he didn't see what damage exactly had been done.

Ribbon Dee changed the bandages on his arms, cheeks, and wings as quickly as she could. He seemed to be healing up at a steady pace; he was definitely in better condition than when the group had come last night. At first, she had been hesitant about taking the blue puffball in because of his wings. She'd never treated a flying creature before and knew very little about the subject. There was more risk involved in it…after all, the bones in most creatures' wings were insanely fine and delicate and if she even slightly messed up in treating him, he might not be able to recover his flight. But her softer side had whispered to her; told her that she should at least try, so she'd ended up taking them in anyway. It wasn't like there was anybody else out here that would know. She started into the project nervously, but much to her luck, the breaks in his bones had not been the same on each wing, so she was able to piece together a treatment much better than she normally would have. She was glad that they didn't have any other bones in their bodies, though. Ribbon Dee still couldn't get over how strange the concept of…whatever their species was. She sure was glad that _she_ didn't have to worry about being a living black hole.

She also found it strange that Dedede and Bandana Dee kept staring at Meta Knight's face. She didn't really see anything surprising about it. He was the same species as Kirby; so what? She'd have to ask them later—not when Kirby was around of course, because that would bring up a subject that he shouldn't hear at the moment. With the bandaging work done, she picked up her supplies and slowly—quietly—put them back before dragging the piece of blanket Meta Knight was laying on toward the kitchen. She didn't want to move him away from the heat too much, but it would just have to do for now. She trotted into the kitchen to get some food for him, wondering if _his_ appetite would be the same as _Kirby's_. She tried to move as quickly as possible, but the setup still took about five minutes.

To her surprise, the blue puffball already seemed to be gaining consciousness when she came back out. She put her paw on his cheek, and his wings twitched as his eyes opened halfway. Ribbon Dee was puzzled. He hadn't seemed like he was going to wake up any time soon when he was in front of the fire; what had induced such a drastic change in him? She blinked before touching his cheek again. His body temperature seemed to have dropped a degree or two…maybe he didn't like the heat? She'd keep him over here to test that. She wouldn't let him get _too_ cold…but she wouldn't let him get back up to fireside temperature, either. She giggled as he blinked and looked around at her with curiosity and a hint of fear. Ribbon Dee put her hand on his head, and he shivered slightly. "It's okay. Your friends and I are here in a nice warm place. Do you want some food?"

He stared at her for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to say before he started to visibly quake. Ribbon Dee stared at him with a quizzical expression. Did he talk at all? Or was it just too painful? The puffball reached his paw toward his face, but immediately flinched and let it drop to the floor. Ribbon Dee sat down next to him and rubbed the top of his head in the way she had done to Kirby, hoping to make him a bit more relaxed. At first, he seemed mistrustful of the action, but eventually he closed his eyes and let himself enjoy it. The two sat there for a while before she finally stopped. Ribbon Dee had to keep from laughing when the blue puff opened his eyes halfway and gave her a slightly disoriented look; he probably wondered why she'd stopped. That thought _did_ make her start giggling, but she quickly hid it and reached for a tray of food. "Now that you're feeling better, did you want some food?"

He blinked, as if he had forgotten that that was the question she had originally asked. He attempted to nod, but like Kirby, stopped when he had moved too much. It took him a little longer to verbally state his answer, but by then Ribbon Dee had already shoved the tray of food in front of him. "Let me guess, you want to try and eat it with no help, right?"

"Y…yes, thank you." With all the strength he possessed, he managed to push himself into a sitting position against the wall. Ribbon Dee was glad that she had chosen to drag him against the kitchen wall, but it had its cons as well, mainly because she had temporarily forgotten that he had wings. She quickly slapped her paw over his mouth as his wings came into rough contact with the wall; his friends had told her that he had a pretty good pain tolerance but that didn't mean _he_ would remember that. Once the original shock died off, she slowly took her paw off his mouth. "Shhh…you could've asked me for help. Did you forget you were hurt?" The blue puffball stared at the rug, cheeks burning in embarrassment. "Don't feel bad about asking for help. I told your friends that I would take care of you two and that's what I want to do, so let me _do_ that for Nova's sake!"

Meta Knight seemed a little surprised at her sudden forcefulness, and quickly started to reach for a cookie so he wouldn't have to respond to her statement. It caused him quite a bit of discomfort, but his pride would hurt more if he asked to move the tray closer. Luckily for him, Ribbon Dee seemed to be a mind reader that day so she pushed it closer anyway. The blue puffball was a bit unsure of himself around the Waddle Dee. She was nice and respected him even though he was in a weak situation and he looked like a little kid. That confused him. How could she be so happy around him when he was being a burden to her? He was also embarrassed about how badly he'd messed up talking with her; he wasn't used to being in this situation and he couldn't pin down what she thought of him. And that drove him crazy.

And…where were the others? He couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but no matter what, he wasn't going to ask. That would make him look dumber than he already thought he was, and he hated looked dumb. Nobody would take him seriously, something he had a not-so-small complex about. He unconsciously twitched his wings at that, making them hit the wall again. He thought he was in the clear because nobody would seem him flinching under his mask-but then he remembered that he didn't have his mask on; _dangit_. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ribbon Dee standing in front of him with a concerned look plastered across her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"You need to be more careful." She scolded. "The bones in your wings are very delicate and if they don't set properly, you may as well forget flying again. Let me get some pillows for you to lean on."

Before Meta Knight could even protest, she had dashed off to get some. When he was sure the Waddle Dee was out of sight, he rotated his face as far up his body as he could without causing too much pain to himself. He knew he probably looked utterly strange doing this, but he had no other way to tell the extent of the damage to his wings.

Things weren't looking good; even though Ribbon Dee had wrapped the bandages pretty tight, he'd already done something to mess them up and part of his left wing was bent some. He wished he knew at least something about the medical field, but his knowledge was only basic, meaning that he'd have to leave everything to Ribbon Dee if he hoped to fly again. If he couldn't fly, Meta Knight was sure that life would be much more terrible. His wings were the only thing that proved that he was older than Kirby. Not to mention that he loved going at high speeds and it wasn't exactly like he was going to be seen flying around on a warpstar. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for them to heal—if they would even heal perfectly at all. A feeling of panic rose up inside him and spun around like a thin metal cooking bowl on a grease-slicked countertop. That panic transferred to the rest of his body in spite of himself, and soon he found himself shaking in fear. He'd never realized how much he'd come to rely on flying until now…heck, even his moveset would be cut, and he wouldn't be able to go airborne in battle outside of his high jumping abilities. Imagining life without flying…it just _wasn't fun_…Meta Knight didn't notice, but his body had gone limp and his wings were drooping. His face had even slid back down to its normal position.

_You might not be able to fly again…ever…_

His eyes slid closed. He had messed up so badly somehow, and now he was probably going to pay the price for it…

"Meta Knight? What's _wrong_?"

_Oh no. __Is that Ribbon Dee?_ He opened his eyes and moaned quietly. _No, it's Bandana Dee. __Oh, shoot…_

"Ummm…"

Bandana Dee sat down in front of him. "Come on, tell me. It isn't like anyone's listening. We're friends. I swear by the pact between our species that I won't speak of it unless you want me to."

The blue puffball took a deep breath before halfheartedly grabbing a pawful of cherries and shoving them into his mouth. He swallowed them all at once, and seemed to magically recompose himself-one of the perks of the puffball species. "Oh, nothing. Where'd Ribbon Dee go?"

"Oh, she's off taking a break. Even though she's cooking. I wanted to help, but she insisted that I rest and tell you that she'd bring you some pillows as soon as she was finished. So I figured I'd see how _you_ were doing." He gave him a suspicious look. "Pretty good, or pretty bad?"

"You don't give me much middle ground, do you?" Meta Knight grumbled as picked up a bigger pawful of cherries than last time and, again, swallowed all of them at once (Now his instincts were just getting _annoying_). "Well, I'm doing pretty swell for acknowledging the fact that I might be _permanently grounded_…"

Bandana Dee gave him a sympathetic look. "I understand your feelings on that, Meta Knight…but you know, Ribbon Dee knows about such things. Besides, the design of your wings is relatively simple. As long as you follow her directions, you should be fine. Be lucky your species heals so quickly."

"Yeah, I guess I should." The bowl of cherries was almost completely gone now. "It's…just something I couldn't help but think about, you know?" He dumped the last of the cherries in his mouth directly from the bowl, not spilling a single one even though he was injured. He probably would have liked to think it was because he was getting his strength back, but it was really just because the bowl was made of thin plastic. Ah well, he was sure he'd be fine soon enough.

"Where'd the others go?" He asked as soon as he'd swallowed the cherries. Bandana Dee gave him a wary glance.

"Do…you remember what happened to you?"

Meta Knight paused. There was no way he was gonna look out-of-the-loop about this. Time for some mind games. "For the most part, yes." He answered vaguely. Bandana Dee sighed.

"I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. I mean, I know Kirby will definitely take it as his fault, but…I don't know about you. Do you think it's your fault? And will you give me a straight-out answer, or will I have to pry it out of you?"

The blue puffball stopped to think. Again. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself, but I'll let you know the answer when I do." _And when I find out what happened._

Bandana Dee gave him a flat look. "Well _you_ were the one who was trying to help. Kirby will take it as his fault because he got angry at you and then you got hurt for trying to help him after that. By the way, exactly how much of the event is 'the most part'?"

"Everything except the ending," He stated casually, not missing a beat. He was really trying to resist eating some more food, but chocolate cookies…with peanut butter…no…he mustn't…ah, what the heck. "Mind informing me?"

"There isn't much I can say except that you two got crushed under an iron platform. That's when you probably blacked out, 'cause when else would you have been knocked out?"

"Then how did we get here?" Meta Knight pressed, grabbing about five more cookies while he was at it.

Bandana Dee rolled his eyes. "Dedede 'sacrificed' his best belt and after we dug you two out from under the platform—mainly Dedede did that, so I won't complain—we laid you two out on it like a stretcher and Dedede carried you until we found Ribbon Dee's house. Then she let us in and fed us and fixed you up and we've been here ever since. The end."

"How long was 'ever since'?"

"What is this, an interrogation mission?" Bandana Dee muttered under his breath, making Meta Knight smirk. "Well we got here last night. And you two have been asleep since then. So has Dedede, for the most part. I stayed up, of course, because I'm responsible."

Meta Knight could tell that that wasn't the only reason he'd stayed up, but he was too surprised at another fact to care. "I was out for a whole _day_?"

It was Bandana Dee's turn to smirk now. "Yup, longer than that if you're counting the last two hours. Even Kirby woke up before you."

Bandana Dee chuckled at seeing Meta Knight's irritated face, and reached over to grab something off the tray. His paw felt nothing but metal. He glanced over to see that it was completely empty. He looked back over to Meta Knight, who was rubbing his burning cheeks in embarrassment (making sure to avoid the bandages, of course). "Um…whoopsies?"

"It's okay," he sighed, "I'm sure Ribbon Dee is making some more…"

* * *

Kirby was seriously bored.

Despite the fact that most of his injuries (except for the long gash on his right side) were minor scrapes, the others had insisted that he stay sitting, lest they duct-tape his feet to the floor. The night seemed to drag on, even though the others were talking about maybe playing a board game or something later. They weren't all joining in on comedy at once, but they were still attempting it. It was _all_ funny, really, especially when they'd brought up a vacation they'd taken (but oh Nova, that was so embarrassing for them all) or when Dedede had tried to see how far into his head he could roll his eyes ("They're stuck, dangit, they're stuck!"). But he didn't like it when people hid stuff from him. It was usually stuff he didn't want to be reminded of…but Kirby had a responsibility as a hero, and he took that seriously. If he made a mistake, he wanted to make up for it. Even if it wasn't _entirely_ his fault, he still wanted to do something to help…what kind of hero would he be if he didn't help others with their problems? And it wasn't as funny without Meta Knight; the whole vacation topic would've been a heck of a lot more laughable if Kirby was able to remind him of the time he'd tricked the blue puffball into doing something…very…not intelligent…

Kirby sighed, attracting Dedede's attention. "Hey Kirby, what's wrong?"

"Well, I just kinda wanted to talk to Meta Knight...it isn't the same group without him around..."

"Eh, don't worry about it Kirby. It's no fault of yours. He's probably just tired. We should be pumping him full of sugar all the time so he should get up faster, though."

"No problem there," Bandana Dee grumbled. "He's already eaten a whole tray of cookies along with countless other snacks. He stopped now, but I think it's just because he didn't want to appear greedy."

Kirby could sympathize with Meta Knight on that. Eating made him sleepy, and the food was just so good that you'd be crazy to _not_ eat it.

"What cookies? Those weren't the chocolate and peanut butter ones, were they?" Dedede asked worriedly. Bandana Dee nodded.

"That little thief!" The king screamed. "That conniving freak! How could he eat _all_ of them?! How could he, Bandana Dee, how could he…" He sank to the floor. Bandana Dee gave him another flat look. "Great King."

"Yes?" he moaned.

"Ribbon Dee made three batches of them."

"Oh, _glorious_ day!" Dedede hugged Bandana Dee, then lifted him up off the floor and spun around. Bandana Dee shouted in protest, but was ignored. Kirby snickered in spite of himself. He really shouldn't worry about Meta Knight right now…after all, if he had eaten an entire batch of cookies, he was obviously alive and well; he probably just wanted some peace and quiet… With the worry dispelled, Kirby finally relaxed for that evening and outright laughed at the king and his servant. Everything was going to be _fine_…

"Help meeeeeeee!"

Well, for the most part. "Dedede, let the poor guy go."

"Oh, so _you're_ gonna be a cookie hog too. Fine! Have it your way!" Dedede dropped Bandana Dee in front of the fire. "Maybe next time, I'll just volunteer to help in the kitchen! Then _I'll_ get all the food!"

"You already tried that once, Dedede, remember?" Kirby stated slyly.

"You heroes don't let anybody forget _anything_, do you?"

"Occasionally, but you had to bring up the subject of stealing food." Kirby shrugged. "But personally, I want first dibs anyway."

* * *

Anybody who read this the first time will probably noticed how much I touched this chapter and the last one up; it's much less dramatic and down-to-earth. Finally nailed it! But...I'm not so sure if making Meta Knight a bit nervous about not having his mask at first was a good idea. I mean, that's _probably_ how he'd feel, but in the hidden staff credits of Kirby Super Star Ultra, he took his mask off _willingly_...


	4. The Moonlight

A/N: At the time I wrote and uploaded this, it was almost midnight, but (hopefully) it still sounds sane. Not bad for the first chaptered fic I've finished to date.

I know I didn't really give anyone enough time to review, but thanks to MyImagination12 and Destiny Willowleaf, who've tried to review every single chapter and managed to get in a review before I published this. :D Thanks, you two, and everyone else who read, reviewed, and all that good stuff.

**Disclaimer**:

Kirby Crew: Did you think that the wacko who wrote this story owns any characters by Nintendo?

Ribbon Dee: ...don't even go there. The writer is halfway to thinking that I'm a canon character at this point.

* * *

Dedede stretched, utterly exhausted from the last board game. It was about midnight, if not later. "Well, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The others chorused, 'others' being the two Waddle Dees. Kirby and Meta Knight had drifted into a state of half-sleep, so the non-puffballs had tried to be as quiet as possible until they felt tired enough to go to bed. That moment was now. Dedede and Bandana Dee started to goof off with each other, seeing who could push each other over first, but—

"Guys, go to bed!" Ribbon Dee commanded.

"Yes, ma'am…"

Bandana Dee and Ribbon Dee waddled off (oh, what a bad pun…) to the bedrooms in the back, and Dedede dragged himself over to the corner by the fireplace. The fire itself was dying down, flickering in the semi-darkness. The only source of light was a small electric tea light perched over the fireplace. Eventually, Dedede fell into a state of mostly-asleepness, and the cottage was consumed by silence…

Well, for a little while. Kirby blinked his eyes open. Had everyone gone to bed? Then he could get up for a little while and talk to Meta Knight.

When Kirby was sure that everyone had gone to bed, he slowly—carefully—got up off his seat and eased himself into a standing position. He looked around to see where Meta Knight was. He noted that his friend was propped up against the wall connected to the kitchen. His eyes were glowing slightly, meaning that he was still halfway conscious. Kirby dropped into a crawl (not too hard when your body shape is a circle) and proceeded to quietly and painfully shuffle over to his friend. He breathed a sigh of relief when he was almost there; no one had heard him so far. The pink puff put his paw down on the floor—only to find out that it squeaked. He froze as Dedede stopped snoring, but relaxed when he heard him roll over. He noticed Meta Knight had woken up a bit more and was staring at him questionably. "Kirby? What are you _doing_?" he whispered.

"I…I wanted to talk to you and make sure you were okay. Is that bad?"

Meta Knight sighed. "No, I guess not. But if any of the others wake up, you're in big trouble."

"Why?" Kirby crawled over so that he was almost next to Meta Knight. "Why—"

Outside the window on the adjacent wall, some clouds in front of the moon rolled away, letting the moonlight stream through the window. The light covered the puffballs in an almost eerie glow, making them appear somewhat silvery. Each one took in the other's injuries. Neither wanted to break the silence first.

Finally, Kirby managed to form some words. "What…what _happened_ to you?"

"Same thing that happened to you," Meta Knight stated casually. "It's just worse for me because I was wearing armor. And I have wings."

Kirby flinched; the blue puffball looked pretty beaten up regardless. "Do you know what happened to us? The others don't want to tell me…And they didn't tell me what happened to you, either! Why are they keeping secrets from me? Why did they-"

"Kirby." Meta Knight covered the pink puff's mouth with his paw. "You're borderline shouting, here."

"Sorry."

"They just don't want to upset you, Kirby. Bear with it. They'll tell you later."

"Why can't you?"

Meta Knight was silent, desperately hoping that Kirby didn't notice the trouble he was having trying to come up with a halfway intelligent reply.

"Why? Why is everyone keeping secrets from me?" Kirby was getting loud and frustrated again, causing Meta Knight to flinch.

"L-listen, don't think that, they just don't want your feelings to be hurt! We're going back to how we ended up in this situation in the first place!" Meta Knight tried to flick his wings higher for an intimidation factor, but since they were in a corner, both hit the wall, and he quickly slapped his paws against his mouth. He tried to hide the pain and almost succeeded, but Kirby noticed anyway. The pink puff scooted closer to his friend with an apologetic look and put a paw on his arm in a comforting manner. Meta Knight's eyes blinked open very quickly, and he stared at Kirby in confusion. His milky white eyes combined with the bluish-silver moonlight reminded him of something.

_Something_…

The scene of their mishaps in the cave came rushing back to him all at once, and he clutched his head and moaned quietly in discomfort. His head was spinning and hurting at the same time and he just wanted it to stop…

He was stilled a bit when he felt a paw on top of his head. He grinned for a few seconds; he was glad Meta Knight wasn't angry at him after all. When he'd finally regained control of himself and the pain started ebbing away, he rotated back to face his friend, who was smiling at him softly. "You okay now?"

"Y…yes, I am. Thanks." A grin flickered across Kirby's face before vanishing suddenly. "…Meta Knight?"

"Hm?"

"What happened in the cave…did you remember too?"

The blue puff was silent for a moment before turning to face the moonlight. Kirby followed suit, waiting for a reply.

"…After Bandana Dee filled me in enough…yes…"

Guilt washed over Kirby and he let out a small sigh. "I-I'm sorry, Meta Knight. Really, I am. I don't know what would make me do something like that…I _don'tlike_ being angry like that…"

"Hey. It's okay, Kirby. You're my friend, and so is everyone else. We can forgive you."

"That doesn't mean you'll forget…" Kirby looked downcast. "I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't think of me the same way again."

"Kirby, chill. It's no problem." Meta Knight put his paw back on Kirby's head. "You're starting to sound like me, the way you're over-obsessing about it. You must've picked up on my outburst from earlier."

Kirby looked at his friend quizzically. "About what?"

"Oh, you know my problems with flying and all that," He stated awkwardly as he slowly moved his wings down the wall a little bit. Kirby finally seemed to comprehend what that really meant, and it crushed him inside.

"I-I-I-I'm s-sorry…it's just…" Kirby started crying softly as he leaned against his friend. Meta Knight simply waited, not sure what to do. Two or three minutes later, Kirby had recomposed himself. "Um…sorry…"

"No, that's okay…what did you want to say?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry again. Just…I know that I'll feel terrible if you can't fly again, and I already feel pretty bad now…Nova, you must hate me…how can you be so calm around me?"

Meta Knight thought for a moment. "'Cause you're my friend, Kirby." He extended a paw to the pink puff and pulled him into a standing position using what little strength he had. "And friends help friends, which is why I tried to help you."

Kirby paused for a little while before blinking and staring at Meta Knight with a determined look on his face. It wasn't like Meta Knight to say something like that in such a dead-honest way unless he slipped up or trusted you enough not to tell. "…Thanks. I needed that."

"It's the least I could do. You've done the same for me. We're in on this 'heroes of the universe' thing together." The blue puffball suddenly yawned, and pushed his paws out in front of him a little. "And this 'heroes of the universe' thing is tiring me out. I'm going to bed, Kirby. 'Night."

"'Night…"

Kirby started to crawl away, and Meta Knight let his face slide down a little as he leaned back against the pillows.

"Hey Meta Knight?"

The aforementioned puffball blinked sleepily at Kirby. His pink friend gave him a smile.

"Thanks."

Meta Knight smiled back before drifting off to sleep in the moonlight…

…And in the corner, Dedede quickly shut his eyes so that he wouldn't be caught when Kirby came over…

* * *

Ribbon Dee and Bandana Dee unflattened themselves from the kitchen wall.

"Well Bandana Dee, looks like they solved their problems themselves. Let's just treat everything casually. It'll all have blown over by the morning…"

The two Waddle Dees were about to walk back to the spare bedrooms when they turned to the living room.

It was an almost magical scene, in a way. King Dedede was sleeping in one corner; the wood basket sitting in the other. Kirby was sitting in a nest of blankets by the fire, breathing quietly. Meta Knight was splayed out against the pillows in his corner by the kitchen, with just a small amount of chocolate smeared on his arm from some unknown dessert that evening (most likely the third batch of cookies, which had 'mysteriously disappeared'). The remaining coals and wood chips left in the fire glowed softly. And silvery moonlight streamed in the windows, covering everything in its peaceful glow. Board games surrounded the area around the couch, and the only thing left empty in the room was the furry rug behind the couch.

Bandana Dee and Ribbon Dee stared into each other's eyes before nodding. Slowly, quietly, they headed back to the spare bedroom before they re-emerged with some extra blankets. The pair of Waddle Dees made themselves comfortable on the rug before snuggling into their blankets and going to sleep.

And now that everyone was present, and now that the moonlight beamed brighter than ever, it truly was a magical scene.

* * *

...This chapter was somewhat shorter than the first, but I planned it that way from the start; hope it was the right decision. Either way, I'll have plenty more chances to redeem myself (as you can tell, I've already gone back and touched it up). It's just that the demon beast of perfectionism is something that keeps torturing me, which is a major stopping point for my stories. Ah well. -sigh- I like the way I ended this, at least. It could've been better, but it gave me a fuzzy feeling. :) I've got more 'Return to Dream Land' fics soon (hopefully) which are a bit more involved with the characters from that game. Either way, I had an awesome time writing this!

Chow!


End file.
